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Narrative Velocity

The force that drives a character forward through a story — not story pace, but the specific reasons a character keeps moving towards the next event. Better understood as character velocity.

It operates in two modes:

  • Push — direct. The character is forced forward by external pressure. They retain agency over how to respond, but engagement is compelled.
  • Pull — indirect. The character is drawn forward by something desirable: curiosity, reward, opportunity, or an internal need.

Pushes and pulls can layer within a single scene or sequence. Both must overcome a certain gravity — competing pressures, the known costs of acting, or simple inertia — for movement to actually occur.

References

"We’re oscillating between push and pull, right? In a way: learning information is pull; danger is push, right? So you’re talking about a way of creating a narrative energy from oscillating between those two."

— Stu Willis  |  DZ-126: Secrets and Clues

Start here

DZ-126: Secrets and Clues

How can Secrets and Clues motivate characters?
AI✦The hosts directly address whether characters are pushed forward or pulled forward by information, and how that distinction shapes the kind of escalation each character can sustain across the film.✦
⏱ 1h 28m
30 APR 2026
Listen if you want to understand how hidden information drives character motivation and plot structure!
▶ More Info
“Getting information puts your character in danger. And danger rewards your character with information." — One of three ideas we steal from game design in this episode. In this two part series, we talk about how secrets, clues and hidden information motivate characters and may (or may not) help you plot from a character perspective. Part One (this episode) looks at WAKE UP DEAD MAN; while Part Two looks at SIDE EFFECTS, and the pilot episode of SHRINKING… →

KEY IDEAS

The Framework as a Writing Tool

"Just taking away a tool from this: how do I want people to feel? Do I want them to feel like they're in a drama, at which point maybe I'm going to focus more on my characters being pushed by external events, but I'm going to make sure that there's still tension or compulsion through the secrets and the reveals to the audience -- there's going to be a very different feel when my character is driving towards the thing that they're trying to uncover or achieve and there's cost to it and those costs are escalating. Those are two very different feelings, as against coming into a situation where everyone knows everything but I don't know anything -- as the audience member, I'm behind. Where do my moments of power and engagement come from? It's when I get caught up."

— Chas Fisher (01:35:37) · DZ-127: Secrets and Clues 2 - The Cost of Revelation

Creating Narrative Energy Through Oscillation

"We're oscillating between push and pull, right? In a way: learning information is pull; danger is push, right? So you're talking about a way of creating a narrative energy from oscillating between those two."

— Stu Willis (01:22:50) · DZ-126: Secrets and Clues

Stakes Differ: Push Versus Pull

"When a character is being pushed... a lot of the stakes can be external. But when they're being pulled, you're going to have to work a lot harder on the stakes because they want the information and there's going to have to be much more cost to that journey."

— Chas Fisher (00:18:40) · DZ-126: Secrets and Clues

Even More

DZ-127: Secrets and Clues 2 - The Cost of Revelation

What does it cost a character to find something out, or to say it?
AI✦Stu frames how Dr. Banks is pushed and pulled through Side Effects by the danger that comes from uncovering information, while Chas connects this to whether characters are sharing secrets because they’re pushed by external forces or pulled by internal factors.✦
⏱ 1h 51m
27 MAY 2026
Listen to learn the emotional impact of revealing secrets vs discovering them.
▶ More Info
In this episode Stu, Chas and Mel apply the Landmark–Hidden–Secret framework (from DZ-126) across two very different genres: the thriller SIDE EFFECTS (2013) and the tragicomic pilot of SHRINKING… →

DZ-116: Writing Physical Comedy

How do you make extended technical scenes funny on the page?
AI✦The Bringing Up Baby opening demonstrates how quick slug line changes and white space on the page create the sensation of escalating chaos, making the 207-page screenplay feel like it whips through 90 minutes.✦
⏱ 1h 35m
26 FEB 2025
Listen to learn how formatting--white space, caps, dashes--becomes your comedy toolkit without a director.
▶ More Info
Mel joins Chas to tackle physical comedy. We limited our homework selection to extended scenes (as opposed to moments and sight gags) in live action projects and – with the help of our Patreons – selected early sequences from BRINGING UP BABY, the pilot for HAPPY ENDINGS and that wonderful food poisoning scene in BRIDESMAIDS… →

DZ-79: Interweaving Timelines 2 - The Social Network

How can interweaving two timelines change how we feel about a character?
AI✦By interweaving timelines, Sorkin layers push and pull: the flashbacks reveal Mark’s motivation while the flash-forwards create curiosity about how he got there, propelling the audience forward through competing temporal directions.✦
⏱ 1h 37m
30 APR 2021
Listen to understand how manage stakes when you're using flashforwards.
▶ More Info
In this Part 2 of Interweaving Timelines (aka The Stu Monologue Episode), Mel, Chas and Stu tackle Sorkin/Fincher’s The Social Network. As you’ll hear, it is clearly Stu’s favourite of the examples we cover and, ah, not Mel’s favourite. While all three bring their own biases and opinions on the reality of Facebook as it has become, we do manage to put the destruction of democracy to one side to actually analyse the meticulous craft that this film displays… →

DZ-35: Driving Characters or Character Driven?

How can films maintain audience interest without stakes or plot questions?
AI✦Without traditional plot questions pulling the audience forward, these films rely on character-level propulsion--the internal and behavioral forces that keep us watching despite minimal external stakes.✦
⏱ 1h 20m
6 OCT 2016
Listen if you're writing a character study and unsure how to build momentum without external conflict.
▶ More Info
Continuing their focus on “character”, Stuart and Chas take a close look at films that may be considered character-driven... or rather character studies... or just plot-lite films? Whatever you call them, these films — CHEF, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, and AMOUR — let their plots take a back seat to a closer examination of their characters. Stuart and Chas dive in to investigate how, without plot driving the story forward, do these films maintain our interest? We talk Mike Leigh’s idea of the ‘Running Condition’, Character Choice, SceneWork and the myriad other techniques the filmmakers use to keep us interested… →

DZ-10: Midpoint Reversals and The Ride

How can the middle of your film pivot so much that it pulls the rug out of your audience?
AI✦Stu and Chas use the reversal as a pacing tool--a mechanism to prevent the second act from sagging by introducing a structural jolt that accelerates audience engagement.✦
⏱ 1h 19m
8 JUL 2014
Listen when your second act sags and you need a structural jolt to accelerate audience engagement.
▶ More Info
Stu and Chas embark on the first of a series of explorations into the dreaded Second Act. Their first stop is midpoint reversals or shifts, a plot point bang in the middle of ACT II that changes the protagonist’s goal, raises the stakes and potentially leaves your audience leaning forward and asking “How the hell is this going to end?&rdquo… →

DZ-74: Midsommar & Folk Horror

What can we learn from folk horror?
AI✦Dani’s push (forced to stay with her boyfriend in Sweden) and pull (the Hårga’s intoxicating acceptance) layer throughout the film to propel her toward a climax she both resists and desires.✦
⏱ 2h 1m
1 DEC 2020
Listen if you want to understand how folk horror works as a genre and how Ari Aster uses it to explore grief and toxic relationships
▶ More Info
Draft Zero return with their next YouTube livestream! Stu and Chas are joined by previous guest (and successful screenwriter) C.S. McMullen for a deep dive into MIDSOMMAR! We analyse the film through the lens of Folk Horror, but tackle broader topics such as horror vs dread, rising tension, transgressions, unfilmables, and portraying toxic relationships… →

DZ-51: Antagonists! 3 - vs Nature

What changes in your story if your antagonistic forces can't be bargained with?
AI✦The episode examines what propels characters forward when traditional bargaining is impossible--how the push of an unstoppable force replaces the pull of negotiable conflict as the engine of momentum.✦
⏱ 1h 52m
31 MAY 2018
Listen to understand why pressure--not obstacles--is what transforms a protagonist when they face an unstoppable force.
▶ More Info
In this Part Three of our Five Part Epic Exploration™ into antagonistic forces (and sources of conflict), Chas & Stu explore “nature” antagonists, including some supernatural ones. What became clear in doing the homework (and recording this episode twice) was that the antagonistic forces - whether natural or supernatural - presented different narrative challenges to the protagonists if (a) they did not seem to make choices and (b) could not be bargained with or defeated… →

DZ-122: Escalating Antagonism Across Genres

How can you apply horror ideas to action and comedy?
AI✦Stu observes that Greg’s insecurity acts as a pull throughout Meet the Parents, drawing him through escalating transgressions and omens, while in Rebel Ridge the system itself becomes a push that forces Terry forward whether he chooses it or not.✦
⏱ 1h 44m
1 OCT 2025
Listen to learn how thinking of your hero as the horror (for your villains) makes your script dynamic.
▶ More Info
In this episode Chas, Stu and guest Kim Ho continue their exploration into the power(s) of antagonism and how focusing on them can develop story… →

DZ-37: Excelling at Exposition (Part 1)

How can you successfully integrate exposition into your story?
AI✦Stu and Chas examine how exposition can move a story forward rather than stop it, analyzing the mechanics that keep characters and audiences propelled through scenes despite the need to communicate pre-existing facts.✦
⏱ 1h 46m
23 NOV 2016
Listen if your exposition scenes feel like information dumps disguised as dialogue.
▶ More Info
In Draft Zero’s first two part episode, Stu & Chas take an in-depth look at one of screenwriting’s most common challenges: EXPOSITION. For many stories there are pre-existing facts that need to be communicated to the audience — whether those facts be about the rules of the world, the nature of a location, character motivations, character backstories or just character names. So how have great writers made exposition move the story forward, rather than stopping it to tell the audience stuff they need to know… →